Chapter 7: Erich FROMM

Humanistic Psychoanalysis | Biography

- Has childhood experience that shaped his life including his Jewish family life, suicide of a young woman, and extreme
nationalism in Germany.
- was heavily influenced by Freud, Marx, and The Old Testament.
- his first wife was Freida Reichmann (his analyst), who’s 10 years older than him.
- had a relationship with Karen Horney who was 15 years older than him.
- was later married to Henny Gurland who’s 2 years younger than him; died in 1952.
- was married again a year after to Annis Freeman.
- died on March 18, 1980, few days before his 80th birthday
- was an eloquent essayist.

Overview on Humanistic Psychoanalysis

- Erich Fromm’s basic thesis is that modern day people have been torn away from their prehistoric union with nature and
also with one another, yet they have the power of reasoning, foresight and imagination.
- Self-awareness contributes to feelings of loneliness, isolation and homelessness. ▪ To escape from these feelings,
people strive to become reunited with nature and with their fellow human beings.
- His Humanistic Psychoanalysis assumes that humanity’s separation from the natural world has produced feelings of
loneliness and isolation, a condition called basic anxiety
- a more recent event in history has been the rise of capitalism, which on one hand has contributed to the growth of
leisure time and personal freedom, but on the other hand has resulted in feelings of anxiety, isolation, and
powerlessness.
- The isolation brought by capitalism has been unbearable leaving people with two alternatives:
a) to escape from freedom into interpersonal dependencies
b) to move to self-realization through productive love and work.

Fromm’s Basic Assumption

- Human Dilemma – Fran (1947) believed that humans, unlike other animals have been “torn away” from their
prehistoric union with nature. They have no powerful instincts to adapt to a changing world; instead, they have
acquired the facility to reason.
- Curse and Blessing of Reason – Blessing since we became more effective/efficient surviving, and a curse because it
frees human beings to solve the unsolvable dichotomies of life which are called Existential Dichotomies

Existential Dichotomies
a) Life and Death - Self-awareness and reason tell us that we will die, but we try to negate this dichotomy by postulating
life after death, an attempt that does not alter the fact that our lives end with death; futile attempt to solve these two.
b) Completing self-realization - Humans are capable of conceptualizing the goal of complete self-realization, but we are
also aware that life is too short to reach that goal. Some people try to solve this dichotomy by assuming their own
historical period is the crowning achievement of humanity, while others postulate a continuation of development after
death.
c) Aloneness vs. Union – people are ultimately alone, yet they cannot tolerate isolation. They are aware of themselves
as separate individuals, and at the same time, believe that their happiness depends on uniting with their fellow human
beings. Although people cannot completely solve the problem, they must make an attempt or run the risk of insanity.

Human Needs
- As animals, humans are motivated by such physiological needs such as hunger, sex and safety, but they can never
resolve their human dilemma by satisfying these animal needs. Only the distinctive human needs can move people
toward a reunion with the natural world.
- These existential needs have emerged during the evolution of human culture, growing out their attempts to find an
answer to their existence and to avoid
- becoming insane.
- Healthy people are those who found meaning to their existence and neurotic people are those who are still confused
about their existence.
- Healthy individuals are better able to find ways of reuniting to the world by productively solving the human needs of
relatedness, transcendence, rootedness, sense of identity, and frame of orientation.

1. Relatedness
- the drive for union with another person or other persons. Fromm postulated three basic ways in which a person may
relate to the world: submission, power, and love.
a) Submission (negative) - a person can submit to another, to a group, or to an institution in order to become
one with the world.
b) Domination (negative) - domineering people, power seekers welcome submissive partners.
- When a submissive person and a domineering person find each other, they frequently establish a
symbiotic relationship, one that is satisfying to both partners.
 - Although such symbiosis may be gratifying, it blocks growth toward integrity and psychological
health. Is similar to the concept of codependence.
c) Love (positive) - the only route by which a person can become united with the world and at the same time,
achieve individuality and integrity.
- He defined love as a “union with somebody, or something outside oneself under the condition or
retaining the separateness and integrity of one’s own self”.
- In love, two people become one yet remain two.
2. Transcendence
- defined as the urge to rise above a passive and accidental existence and into “the realm of purposefulness and
freedom”.
Two ways of transcendence:
a) Destruction (negative) – we can transcend life by destroying it and thus rising above our slain victims.
 Malignant Aggression – only humans can kill others for reasons other than survival.
b) Creation (positive) – although other animals can create life through reproduction, only humans are aware of
themselves as creators. Also, humans can be creative in other ways, such as art, religions, ideas, laws,
material production, and love.
3. Rootedness
- the need to establish roots or to feel at home again in the world. There are two ways to feel our home again and it
includes:
a) Independence from Mother (positive) - people are weaned from the orbit of their mother and become fully
born; that is, they actively and creatively relate to the world and become that whole or integrated.
b) Fixation (negative) - a tenacious reluctance to move beyond the protective security provided by one’s
mother. People who strive for rootedness through fixation are “afraid to take the next step of birth, to be
weaned from the mother’s breast. [They]… have a deep craving to be mothered, nursed, protected by a
motherly figure; they are the externally dependent ones, who are frightened and insecure when motherly
protection is withdrawn”.
- Fromm believed that incestual desire is universal but not sexual in nature. Incestuous feelings are based in “the deep
related craving to remain in, or to return to, the all-enveloping womb, or to the all nourishing breasts”.
- He believed that ancient societies are matriarchal and this tendency of Fromm to revere mother figures is evident in
his relationship with women.

Sense of Identity
- the capacity to be aware of ourselves as a separate entity. Because we have been torn away from nature, we need to
form a concept of our self to be able to say, “I am I”, or “I am the subject of my actions.”
- without a sense of identity, people could not retain their sanity, and this threat provides a powerful motivation to do
almost anything to acquire a sense of identity.
Two ways of achieving self-identity: adjustment to a group; and individuality.
 Adjustment to a Group (negative) - neurotics try to attach themselves to powerful or to social or political
institutions.
 Individuality (positive) - healthy people, however, have less need to conform to the herd, less need to give
up their sense of self. They do not have to surrender their freedom and individuality in order to fit into society
because they possess an authentic sense of identity.

Frame of Orientation
- being split off from nature, humans need a road map, a frame of orientation, to make their way through the world.
- without such a map, humans would be “confused and unable to act purposefully and consistently”. Basically, a
philosophy in life.
 Irrational Goals (negative) - those who lack a reliable frame of orientation will strive to put these events into
some sort of framework in order to make sense of them.
- people will do nearly anything to acquire and retain a frame of orientation, even to the extreme of following
irrational or bizarre philosophies such as those espoused by fanatical, political, and religious leaders.
 Rational Goals (positive) - people who possess a solid frame of orientation can make sense of these events
and phenomena.
- according to Fromm, this goal or object of devotion focuses people’s energies in a single direction, enables us
to transcend our isolated existence, and confers meaning to their lives.

Human Needs
- Fromm believed that lack of satisfaction of any of these needs is unbearable and results in insanity.
- Existential needs is the Basic Hostility of Fromm’s Theory.
- Same with basic hostility, it also breeds Basic Anxiety.
- Some people solve this Basic Anxiety by subordinating or being subordinated by people or Positive Freedom.
- Most people choose the former rather than the latter. Why?

The Burden of Freedom

 - Historically, as people gained more and more economic and political freedom, they came to feel increasingly more
isolated.
- In the past, the moment you were born, you were already have a role of being an artisan, blacksmith, laborer, king,
queen, noblemen/women, warrior, scholar, etc. which is more or less forced to you.
- Nowadays, we have so much freedom to choose what we want to become and where we want to be. We became
separated from their roots and isolated from one another.
- On a more personal level, as children become more independent of their mothers, they gain more freedom to express
their individuality, to move around unsupervised, to choose their friends, clothes, and so on.
- On both a social and an individual level, this burden of freedom results in basic anxiety, the feeling of being alone with
the world.
- Freedom is too tiring, exhausting and daunting that is why people unconsciously desire to escape from it.

Mechanisms of Escape
- Because basic anxiety produces a frightening sense of isolation and aloneness, people attempt to flee from freedom
through a variety of escape mechanisms. Fromm’s mechanisms of escape are the driving forces in normal people,
both individually and collectively.
- Have three primary mechanisms of escape which are: authoritarianism, destructiveness, and conformity.
- Positive freedom

a) Authoritarianism
- the “tendency to give up the independence of one’s own individual self and to fuse one’s self with somebody or
something outside one’s self, in order to acquire the strength which the individual is lacking”. Can manifest in two
forms (masochism and sadism)
 Masochism
- results from basic feelings of powerlessness, weakness, and inferiority and is aimed at joining the self
to a more powerful person or institution.
 Sadism
- more neurotic and socially harmful; is aimed at reducing basic anxiety through achieving unity with
other person/s; has three kinds of tendencies:
- the need to make others dependent on oneself and to gain power over those who are weak.
- the compulsion to exploit others, to take advantage of them, and to use them for one’s benefit or
pleasure.
- the desire to see others suffer, either physically or psychologically.
b) Destructiveness
- rooted in the feelings of aloneness, isolation, and powerlessness just like authoritarianism but this one does not
depend on a continuous relationship with another person; rather, it seeks to do away with other people.
- can be employed by individuals and nations as mechanism of escape. Destroying in an individual level is more like
being aggressive to them.
c) Conformity
- people who conform try to escape from a sense of aloneness and isolation by giving up their individuality and
becoming whatever people desire them to be.
- people in the modern world are free from many external bonds and are free to act according to their own will, but at the
same time do not know what they want, think or feel.
- we are free to do what we want, but we are also free to do what others want us to do.

Positive Freedom
- A person “can be free and not alone, critical and yet not filled with doubts, independent and yet an integral part of
mankind”, a spontaneous and full expression of both their rational and their emotional potentialities.
- Represents a successful solution to the human dilemma of being part of the natural world and yet separates from it
- Through active love and work, humans unite with one another and with the world without sacrificing their integrity.
They affirm their uniqueness as individuals and achieve full realization of their personalities.

Character Orientations
- is similar with Horney’s Neurotic Trends and is defined as the way a person relate to the world in response to how a
person solves his/her existential dilemma and existential needs that comes with it.
- Character - “the relatively permanent system of all noninstinctual strivings through which man relates himself to the
human and natural world.
- Characterized into two: Nonproductive and Productive

Nonproductive Orientation
- Fromm used the term “nonproductive” to suggest strategies that fail to move people closer to positive freedom and self
realization.
- Personality is always a blend or a combination of several orientations, even though one orientation is dominant.

a) Receptive Character - feels that the source of all good lies outside themselves and that the only way they can relate
to the world is to receive things, including love, knowledge and material possessions.
  Negative qualities - passivity, submissiveness, and lack of self confidence.
 Positive Qualities - loyalty, acceptance, and trust.
b) Exploitative Character - this character believe that the source of all good is outside themselves; aggressively take
what they desire rather than passively receive it; steal people, ideas, and other properties from other people just for
the joy of it.
 Negative side - egocentric, conceited, arrogant, and seducing
 Positive side - impulsive, proud, charming, and self-confident.
c) Hoarding Character - seek to save that which they have already obtained; hold everything inside and not let go of
anything such as keeping money, feelings, and thoughts to themselves; tend to live in the past and repelled by
anything new; try to possess the loved one and to preserve the relationship rather than allowing it to change and
grow.
 Negative side - rigidity, sterility, obstinacy, compulsivity, and lack of creativity
 Positive side - orderliness, cleanliness, and punctuality.
d) Marketing Character - see themselves as commodities, with their personal value dependent on their exchange value;
they must make others believe that they are skillful and salable; have no permanent principles or values.
 Negative traits - aimless, opportunistic, inconsistent, and wasteful.
 Positive traits - changeability, open mindedness, adaptability, and generosity.

Productive Orientation
- Has three dimensions in single productive orientation which include working, loving, and reasoning.
- Most healthy of all character types as they are working toward positive freedom and a continuing realization of their
potential where only productive activity can people solve the basic human dilemma – to unite with the world and with
others while retaining uniqueness and individuality.
- Healthy people value work not as an end in itself; but as a means of creative self expression; are neither lazy nor
compulsively active, but use work as a means of producing life’s necessities.
- Productive love is characterized by the four qualities of love discussed earlier – care, responsibility, respect and
knowledge. In addition to the four qualities, healthy people possess biophilia, a passionate love of life and all that is
alive; are concerned with the growth and development of themselves and others; wants to influence people through
love, reason, and example – not by force.
- Fromm believed that love of others and self love are inseparable but self-love must come first. All people have the
capacity to for productive love, but most do not achieve it because they cannot first love themselves.
- Productive thinking, which cannot be separated from productive work and love, is motivated by a concerned interest in
another person or object.
- Fromm (1947) believed that healthy people rely on some combination of all five character orientations. Their survival
as healthy individuals depends on their ability to receive things from other people, to take things when appropriate, to
preserve tings, ,to exchange things, and to work, love and think productively.

Personality Disorders
a) Necrophilia - means love of death and usually refers to sexual perversion in which a person desires sexual contact
with a corpse, but Fromm (1964) used it in a more generalized sense to denote any attraction to death.
b) Malignant Narcissism - interest in their own body; occurs when a person impedes the perception of reality so that
everything belonging to a narcissistic person is highly valued and everything belonging to another is devalued.
 Hypochondriasis - obsessive attention to one’s health
 Moral Hypochondriasis - preoccupation of guilt about previous transgressions
c) Incestuous Symbiosis - extreme dependence on the mother or surrogate; exaggerated form of the more common
and more benign mother fixation; people are inseparable from the host person where their personalities are blended
with the other person and their individual identities are lost.

Psychotherapy
- Humanistic Psychoanalysis - “With time I came to see that my boredom stemmed me from the fact that I was not in
touch with the life of my patients” (Fromm, 1986, p. 106); more concerned with the interpersonal aspects of a
therapeutic encounter; he believed that the aim of therapy is for patients to come to know themselves as without
knowledge of ourselves, we cannot know any other person or thing.